NBC Throws Pink Slip Parade For Returning Carson Daly Writers

Who could forget that disconsolate look on Carson Daly's face when we caught up with him at CES in Las Vegas, lamenting the absence of the beloved staff of gag writers that make each and every episode of Total Late Night Live a journey worth taking (if you can't afford cable, and CBS comes in really fuzzy regardless of where you point your bunny ears). But news of the strike's resolution isn't likely to do much to raise the spirits of the crestfallen talk show host, as the network has celebrated their return with a hearty round of axings. Deadline Hollywood Daily reports:

[T]he network confirm for me that this week it fired 9 Last Call employees, including 3 of the four writers whose contracts ran out during the strike. (The one scribe kept on still has 4 weeks remaining on his pact. The other 6 employees trimmed worked in other departments.)

NBC sources insist that the Last Call budget cuts weren't done because of the strike and would have made regardless of the WGA labor action. This, after the network threatened to cancel the 5-year-old show altogether unless Carson went back to work.

Certainly, Daly has proven that even with zero writers, he's capable of carrying an solid hour of insomnitainment, and this setback is hardly going to stop him dutifully hoisting his head up from his desk at every applause cue to introduce the next riveting installment of "People Who Still Work For Me Theater presents Gina the receptionist listing the Presidents of the United States in reverse alphabetical order! What's that? Oh. I'm informed Gina packed her desk up earlier this afternoon and was escorted off the premises by two NBC Universal security guards. Anyone know any jokes?"